A good and wholesome travel destination for wellness has solidified its place in Black women travelers’ minds. Puerto Viejo in Límon, Costa Rica is a top destination for embodying peace. Costa Rica is easily one of Central America’s most abundant, tropical, bio-diverse countries. The Caribbean coast is absolutely a testament to that. Black travelers, or more specifically, Black women, are leaning in to what it means to be at peace and Puerto Viejo is the place to be.
Límon’s Puerto Viejo is somewhat a haven for Black travelers searching for the richness of the Diaspora in Central America. As a Jamaican settlement, Puerto Viejo is home to one of the most overtly Caribbean vibes in the region. It is proud of its roots, history, music and food. Beyond this, lies a truly supernatural pull for peace. Most travelers feel that the ‘one love’ vibes go beyond jargon and that peace is implicit in the land itself.
Popular and Poppin’ travel destination for wellness…
Peruvian jungles, Oaxacan coasts and lakeside villages in Guatemala are just a few examples of travel wellness ventures that are well-known. The travel wellness industry clearly favors beautiful landscapes and an abundance of spas and retreats on offer.
Unfortunately, with this comes an ominous storm of gentrification and general erasure of indigenous and local presence. Puerto Viejo, while not perfect on this front, seems to be a space where the rhetoric in the wellness spaces acknowledge and protects the area. The yoga studios and holistic health stores are abundant yes, but there are certainly indigenous-led and facilitated workshops/spaces as well as community beach clean-ups and therefore a sense of accountability. With a wave of travel wellness destinations becoming popularized around the world, it is Puerto Viejo that has seen the most growth in the Black community with expats, retreat travelers and those wanting a peaceful workcation.
Read on to find out what it was about Puerto Viejo that made 2022 such a meditative and healthier year. If it makes Black women book flights in the name of guilt-free wellness, we want to know more!
Related: The Black Expat: Wellness Retreats For Black Women And Feeling Safe In Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
The Top reason Black women chose Puerto Viejo in 2022 (and why we think they'll continue to)
So, Puerto Viejo has been on the rise in Black travel trends but nothing quite beats its 2022 reputation. As more and more Black women organized their Blaxit, they chose spaces that affirm ‘soft life’ rather than city-girl, ‘hustle and bustle’ vibes. There are, quite literally, 4 main roads that make up the majority of the small port town and no one, in any of these roads, is rushing.
The mix of the Caribbean slow rhythm, the wealth of herbal and agricultural knowledge, the community spirit, and the cultural familiarity found in the Jamaican town make for a peaceful combination. Not only can Black women enjoy a healthier diet and safer living conditions, but they can do so in a way that isn’t overwhelming; Costa Rica has all the amenities you’d expect in countries such as the UK, U.S., and Canada. To make things better, it has the warm Caribbean Sea waiting on you wherever you turn.
Black wellness groups in Puerto Viejo
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There are other things that encourage Black women to pick Puerto Viejo for maintaining their inner peace. That magic word is ‘community’ and it is found among other Black women in PV.
One example of this is retreat host Estonia who is based in Puerto Viejo and connects many Black women to themselves through her retreat work.
Another retreat space is ‘The Intuition School’ which is a curated retreat space that guides Black bodies into meditations and living in the bliss state, intentionally. We also interviewed Jameelah, an Atlanta native who relocated to Puerto Viejo to pursue her Kundalini Practitioner work.
Wellness and the Diaspora
Ultimately, it seems that what makes Puerto Viejo all the more attractive is Black women being free and comfortable in a part of Costa Rica with a rich Black settlement. The beauty is, Black people from around the world and from the community are indulging in wellness, they are not the minority. This detail is what keeps Puerto Viejo so valued in the books of Black traveling women, and we get it.
Related: Meet Doriana Diaz, Showcasing Black Travel, Wellness, And Art From Around The World